A great variety of shapes and configurations of solar collectors have heretofore been proposed. While all solar collectors generally are illuminated and heated by solar radiation, the efficiency of energy collection depends upon the size, shape, configuration, color, materials and surface characteristics of the collector. In the search for greater efficiency, market acceptance has been hindered by ever-increasing component costs. Furthermore, most solar collectors are configured to be built into new construction rather than to be added to previously existing structures.
Solar heating systems often include elements for the storage of thermal energy which may either be remote from the solar collector or may function as the solar collector or a part thereof. The need for space inside the structure to be heated for the usual thermal energy storage elements such as a mass of masonry, rocks of water further adds to the expense of presently known solar heating systems. In addition, large temperature fluctuations often result from systems in which a thermal energy storage element of the aforementioned types is in thermal contact with the spaced to be heated.
The key to the advancement and market acceptance of solar heating systems is to form a solar collector from readily available cheap elements having the appropriate thermal characteristics. The usual elastomeric black vehicular tires have excellent solar energy absorption characteristics. As used tires, they are available cheaply, if not at no cost, in tremendous quantities, and provide an ideal building block for a solar collection and thermal energy storage apparatus. In addition, utilization of previously used vehicular tires in such a fashion provides a needed mode of recycling this vast waste material.